Enthusiast III
Anyone use HF in the mobile?
- Thread starter Trad77
- Start date
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
-
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
did you order the RT Systems programming software?
Also don’t forget an SD card... mine didn’t come with one.
Enthusiast III
I did, the people over at HRO were a pleasure to deal with over the phone. In addition to the RT systems software, also ordered a K400 mount, Shark antenna kit (5 pack), SWR meter, and an LDG IT100 tuner. Thanks for the heads up on the SD card, I do have spares here at the house.
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
-
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
The SD card isn’t necessary, but sure makes programming changes easier... and yes HRO is awesome to deal with... when I ordered my IC-7100 it got here the same day... Their customer service is by far some of the best I have ever dealt with. A buddy of mine also got the 7100 and had a bad diode in it out of the box, HRO took care of him right away.
Enthusiast II
Enthusiast II
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
-
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
Enthusiast II
I don't have that kind of space in a Grand Cherokee. Getting a 2nd VHf/UHf radio in for APRS + the HF radio and AMP is a tight squeeze much less a dedicated HF radio, amp, and HF antenna for winlink. Pluss the DC to DC converter & solar charger. It's getting crowded back there.
Enthusiast II
The ALS-500 is a little larger than 2 radios. LOL! I wanted to squeeze another ALS-500 in in an attempt to get 900 watts on 160m. When your antenna amounts to nothing more than a rubber duckie, on the "top band" you need brute force. One of these days maybe i'll get my hands on a metron 1000. Then there will be St Elmo's fire coming from the tip of the whip!
Enthusiast II
Enthusiast III
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
-
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
You do too... you have to get creative with both the radio and the mounting... there is tons of room on the to mount radio gear behind the cargo area trim panels... my dedicated packet radio is a Kenwood TK-790 Comercial Radio converted to packet use with a Mobilinkd TNC3, which connects via Bluetooth to my iPad or laptop. When the Bronco is done, it will also be bluetoothed to my RP4. The TK-790 is fitted under the driver seat and uses three hookups. 1 for coax, 2 power cable, and 3 remote cable for the KCK-10 head unit. The head unit is going to be mounted into my overhead console. Since it’s modded for digital use, I do t need a mic on it, although the head unit has provisions to mount a mic if I do choose later down the road. (Currently I’m working on a mic adapter that will allow me to use a “Cobra” 4/5 pin mic and a Motorola 8 pin mic.))
This is only one example of a commercial Radio conversion, there are even smaller more compact commercial radios out there with some having up to 200w of power. With a dedicated digital radio for APRS and WinLink, don’t really need more than the radio itself and the TNC3 because you aren’t going to be using it for frequency scanning and voice communications.
@K6ORJ how many watts are you running mobile?
What are you using for an antenna and tuner?
Enthusiast II
There is no room under the front seats at all.
The factory stereo amplifier is under the passenger back seat. I no longer put anything under the driver's side back seat because the bulkhead connectors are there bringing the 2/0 wire up from the engine compartment. I really don't want any sparky action going on there.
I have cut all of the plastic out below the rear passenger window. The ALS-500 amplifier barely fits in there, because of the wheel well. IC-7100 and CS-800D are bolted to the amplifier. I am contemplating stacking two more radios on top of that, but I don't want to go much deeper into the cargo area on the passenger side.
On the driver's side I am about to do the same. I will put a solar charger and a DC to DC charger there. I need to keep it shallow on that side, the solar panels and table go along that wall. The newer controllers are Bluetooth enabled, so being tucked behind the panels and table is fine. Im replacing the 'Midnight Solar Kid' for the Victron controller's. The Victron DC to DC one that I already have has next to no QRM on HF. Only a relatively quiet whistle that moves up the band on 80m, and takes up about half the space of the kid.
The chargers maintain the 100 amp lithium battery so I can keep the fridge/freezer happy throughout the night. The CFX75DZW fridge/freezer uses about 1080 watts per day if you run the freezer side. Yes a kilowatt per day! With the addition of the DC to DC charger we are going to drop one of our two 200 watt panels. 200 watts It should be enough to charge in about 5 or 6 hours if I'm parked for the day and if I can get decent sunlight. Solar panels take a lot of space.
Generally run 200 watts on HF, but can ramp it up to 450 watts when necessary. I don't use any batteries or capacitors to boost the power in the rear, just big thick 2/0 wire from the battery in the engine compartment.
AGM battery is a must for this setup. I used to run a flooded battery, but it couldn't keep up with the constant need for charging and discharging, necessary to keep the amplifier happy. On voice peaks the battery discharges a little and has to recharge between transmissions. A flooded battery can't do that.
I don't run a tuner as the antenna is a screwdriver type. HI-Q Parana 160m version.
I generally do Winlink over HF radio It is amazingly fast with VARA, its supposedto be fasterthan PACTOR4. Although i haven't really tried, I doubt there is any node access in most of the remote locations of the SW. Repeater access can be sketchy at best. Wait till just before sunrise so the lighting doesn't propagate out of the east, and you can get it done on those difficult propagation days.
